Sponsored by: The Varsity Fort Worth

Friday, April 8, 2011

Like TCU's last weekend opponent, this weekend's guests are a very different team than they were a year ago. While Air Force is much improved, New Mexico is nowhere near the squad that presented a considerable challenge to the Frogs for conference supremacy. The 2011 Lobos come to Fort Worth with an overall record of 9-20, and an RPI of 162...right in front of both Air Force and UT-Pan Am. After beating those last two in building a 5-game win streak and some much-needed momentum, now is definitely not the time for TCU to regress by losing to UNM. The Lobos are batting .269 as a team, and their overall ERA is 6.05. I know my series previews have generally been a bit longer than this, but the fact of the matter is that the Frogs just need to take care of business and sweep these guys away. With Miller now a midweek starter, Mitchell taking over as closer and another fresh arm (Nick Frey) to compliment the bullpen, it's time for this team to forget the sluggish start to the season and start looking like the squad that could (and should) be on their way back to Omaha.

As the most beloved and ballyhooed prospect to come out of TCU since LaDainian Tomlinson, we all have a heightened sense of interest where Red will end up playing football professionally. So rather than make you all dig through the muck and mire that are sports related internet rumors, we will compile them all here, team by team, as they come along. For the sake of brevity, we will only feature team's that have scheduled an interview or workout with Andy, look at their current QB situation and draft picks and make one of our patented hasty assessments from there. We will also give more credence to team's with picks in the 2-4 rounds (amendment: 1-3 rounds, because that's looking more and more likely) because we're optimistic and can't see Dalton lasting beyond there.

Today we'll take a look at another potential landing spot, the one that destroyed Vince Young's confidence to the point that he quit on the team and contemplated suicide and where the owner isn't afraid to flip a bird or two at opposing fan bases, the Tennessee Titans!

Why Rooster Fits: Kerry Collins is old and drunk. Chris Simms is missing vestigial organs and was never good, anyway. Rusty Smith went to Central Florida and Brett Ratliff still has Cleveland stank on him. Oh, and Vince Young... OH Vince Young. What a nightmare. In other words, the Titans could use some QB help. But having lost the stability of 16 year coach Jeff Fisher this off season, is a rookie coach going to take a flier on a rookie QB? It's hard to say. With Chris Johnson in the fold, I suppose it wouldn't be a terrible landing spot for AD as he could be used to hide a lot of his growing pains. And Kerry Collins, despite being bounced around the league for the bulk of his career, is a trusty veteran on the wane of his career and wouldn't be the worst teacher for Dalton to learn from. There are better ones, yes, but there are also worse. Plus, how great would it be for Dalton to be the guy to return the Titans to their semi-recent good form when Vince Young couldn't? Big time comeuppance.

Why Rooster Doesn't Fit: Too many QBs on the roster, although I'm quite sure Vince Young will not be around when the next season kicks off. However, other than Collins and maybe Smith, who will still be around? So I suppose that's not a huge deterrent, and Dalton would likely be seen as the short term back up to whoever wins between Collins and Smith. But, the question is whether or not Dalton is needed enough to warrant a top 10 pick in the second round.

Truthfully, this makes some sense. If the Titans rate him high enough, they could afford to give him a year or two behind Collins learning the ropes before stepping into the starting role. This post is half assed. Apologies.

The above picture is currently on the front page of ESPN college football. The cover story features the previously posted Chris Fowler interview of GP and a great Ivan Maisel story on the work ethic and mentality of this team. Pretty well summed up in this Ed Wesley quote:

"This team has not won a Rose Bowl, Wesley said. "We have to move forward and do everything that an underdog does to get back on top. And that's work hard. That's all it is.Work hard. Work harder than you think you can work. We have very talented guys. All we have to do is just work."